Political risk must-reads

Eurasia Group’s weekly selection of essential reading for the political-risk junkie — presented in no particular order. As always, feel free to give us your feedback or selections by tweeting at us via @EurasiaGroup or @ianbremmer.

Myanmar is the poorest country in Southeast Asia, but presents a glittering opportunity as it begins to open up for investment: it’s the fastest-growing tourism market in the region and the race is on to build out infrastructure. But high quality office space in the commercial capital, Yangon, is scarce: at $78 a square meter, it’s the most expensive in the region. Compare that to Manhattan, where the average asking rent is $49.95.

Prime Minister Erdogan’s AKP party is training young people to volunteer as “social-media representatives,” using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to echo the party platform and monitor online discussion.

This article by the Minister of Finance of Turkey speaks to the urgency of preventing economic crises rather than just reacting to them. Simsek also highlights Turkey’s booming economic success since its own financial crisis in 2001 (although he may have some bias in this department…).

NASA estimates that there are over 500,000 pieces of man-made debris orbiting the earth at speeds over 17,500mph. China’s recent space ambition leaves it on track to become the leading space polluter. In January of this year, a piece of debris from a 2007 Chinese launch collided with and destroyed a Russian satellite.

This week, it was confirmed that NASA Voyager 1 became the first man-made object to pass into interstellar space. Are you curious what it sounds like beyond the Solar System?